BP, Kosmos find another giant gas pocket off Senegal

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BP and Kosmos Energy have discovered another giant pocket of gas off the coast of Senegal, one that could underpin a future liquefied natural gas hub in the region.

About 59 miles northwest of Dakar, the capital of Senegal in West Africa, the explorers drilled a nearly three-mile-long deep-water well in 8,300 feet of water, finding some 15 trillion cubic feet of natural gas, the companies said Monday.

The discovery, coming a year after another major natural gas find in the region, shows the potential size of the bounty near the maritime border of Senegal and Mauritania, BP said. The so-called Yakaar-1 well is just the first of four that the companies plan to drill in the region. They found 148 feet of gas-rich rock in “thick, stacked reservoir sands.”

Combined with the natural gas Kosmos found last year, the companies believe the discovery “will support a second cost-competitive LNG hub,” Kosmos CEO Andrew Inglis said in a statement.

Senegal is one of the few frontiers the oil industry is still exploring even as energy prices remain low. Last year, oil discoveries dropped to a record low, according to the International Energy Agency.